The Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education voted unanimously to fire New Tech social studies teacher Andrew Pitzer for a perceived lack of judgment in text and social media contact with a student.
Pitzer was hired for the New Tech position at Belleville High School two years ago.
Monday, after a closed-door session at the beginning of the school board meeting to discuss the issue, the board went back into regular session and voted to fire him.
Human Resources Director Abdul Madyun read the following statement to explain the action:
“We had a student allegation of possible inappropriate contact via text and social media with a teacher late in the afternoon on Wednesday, Sept. 27.
“On Sept. 28, we talked to a handful of students. We also brought Mr. Pitzer in to discuss these allegations and to hear his side of the story. At the end of the meeting, we placed Mr. Pitzer on paid administrative leave to complete the investigation.
“The investigation that followed included looking through many documents, talking to students, and having another meeting with Mr. Pitzer.
“While the police are still involved in this situation, we did not find anything that was clearly illegal and nothing indicated any physical contact with any student.
“Following the extensive investigation, we decided that it was best to end our employment agreement with Andrew Pitzer,” Madyun concluded.
There was no further reference to the decision at the meeting.